Sturridge was on the bench for the win against Manchester City, but
Liverpool's manager insists he is merely managing the forward's recovery
from injury

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says Daniel Sturridge will “light up” his new formation when he has returned to full fitness.

Rodgers says he is trying to strike a balance between affording Sturridge the game time he needs following his five-month lay-off and sticking with the 3-4-3 formula that has been so successful since Christmas, with Raheem Sterling as a central striker.

“Daniel is excited by the new system,” said Rodgers. “He is not fully fit yet and it is difficult for him because these are not training games for him to get fit, they are real games, but put a fully fit Daniel Sturridge into that system and it lights it up again.

“Come the end of this week Daniel will then be on a great run and able to play every game and be able to train. He wasn’t quite ready for the Premier League so then we were trying to fit him in games when we could. The Europa League was a great chance to get him game time, but after five months out and with his history here that was something to think about. The last thing we wanted to do was break him. He’s very determined to play and when you see a fully fit Daniel, he will be brilliant.”

Liverpool face Burnley on Wednesday just two points off a top-four place, but acting captain Jordan Henderson is setting his sights even higher.

With the gap to Manchester City now just seven points after Sunday’s 2-1 victory over them at Anfield, Henderson is hoping to drag the champions into the top-four battle.

“It’s always possible,” said Henderson. “The main thing to do is keep the momentum going and see where it takes us.

“Sunday was a big result. We have to aim to win every game. I think we have got the ability to do that. We have got a good enough squad to be doing that but we just have to make sure that we don’t get too carried away with Sunday’s result.”

Daniel Sturridge missed five months of the season through injury (REX FEATURES)

Meanwhile, Liverpool have finally reversed a prolonged spell of financial losses by announcing a profit of £900,000 for their accounts up to May 2014.

It is the first time the club have announced aprofit since David Moores sold the club to Tom Hicks and George Gillett in 2007.

Owners Fenway Sports Group have been trying to repair the damage since they took over in 2010.

Liverpool have also seen revenues increase by 19 per cent to around £250 million. These latest figures were assessed by Uefa as part of its investigation into whether Liverpool were in breach of financial fair play rules – the governing body confirming last week the Merseyside club is in the clear.